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Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
$80,000?!?!? Try about $200,000 for a brand new Cessna 172. (You can thank the personal injury attorneys for nearly suing the general aviation industry out of existence.) Used aircraft can be found for much less, but like a used car, they can wind up becoming high-maintenance 'hangar queens'.
Many airplane owners have resorted to 'fractional ownership' or 'frax', in which you purchase an ownership share in an aircraft entitling you to a guaranteed number of flight hours on the aircraft each year. Each fractional owner also pays a share of the maintenance and hangaring of the aircraft. It's pretty popular now with corporate aircraft, but it's gaining in popularity with the rest of the general aviation community.
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Don't blame attorneys for the problems of the world, they force these manufacturers to really make safety a priority. That's a subject for another thread though
I was actually considering an ultralight type aircraft. There was an article in pop sci about 'em a few months back and it kind of caught my interest. From my very limited exposure to that area -- and by some of the things I've been reading in the business section of the Daily Oklahoman regarding the expansion of small airports, I figured that the cost of ownership was becoming more attainable for normal folks.
Sounds fun though. Fractional ownership actually sounds like a decent idea though. Maybe I'll be able to look into that in 10 years or so.
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